We live in a world where how you think matters a whole lot more than how many facts you can memorize. We all have google in our pockets, but things like critical thinking and problem-solving will be the skills our kids need to thrive in the future. And these skills are actually early math skills.
If you're interested in helping your child build their math skills, here are some tips for parents:
- Incorporate math into everyday life. Math is all around us, so make an effort to incorporate math into your child's everyday life. This could include counting objects, measuring ingredients for cooking, or comparing sizes and quantities when shopping.
- Learn math while you play. Having toys like blocks, puzzles, and number cards (the Earlybird shop has some cute ones) are fun and engaging way for children to explore math concepts and develop their skills. Dramatic play activities like running a grocery store, ice cream shop, or post office are also great for playfully developing early math skills. The Earlybird shop also has several dramatic play kits you can choose from.
- Play math games. There are many math games and activities on the Earlybird app that can help your child develop their math skills in a fun and engaging way. Simple games like "I Spy" or "What Comes Next?" are great for building those higher thinking skills.
- Read math and science-related books. Reading books that introduce math concepts to your child can help to spark their interest in math and build their curiosity. You can find a shoppable list of our favorite math and science kids books on the Earlybird app.
- Do chores with your child. Every time your child matches socks while folding laundry sorts the recycle into categories, or sorts their toys as they clean up, they will build early math skills like understanding categories, similarities, and differences, and how we tend to organize things in our world in a systematic way.
If you want to learn more you can take out Foundational Math and Science (Beyond Numbers) workshops to make sure you give your child a strong foundation.
